A nightmare neighbour tried to frame a couple for child abuse after they complained about his dog barking at all hours of the night.

Kevin Dean, 59, was convicted of harassment on Monday after launching a smear campaign against the husband and wife in which he falsely reported them to police and social services for neglecting their two children, one of whom is autistic.

He also posted poison pen messages on Facebook saying the wife had set up an online scam on eBay and warning others to be 'wary' of her husband, a taxi driver, saying he was 'not who he claimed to be'.

Dean, a father-of-five from Norris Green, Liverpool, falsely accused the couple of neglect after they said his noisy Weimaraner puppy was affecting their family's sleep.

During his smear campaign Dean wrongfully claimed their children, aged 15 and nine, were being routinely left home alone and alleged their mother had dragged one of them into their home by her hair.

Police were subsequently sent to the victims' home to quiz them about their care of the children whilst a major social services investigation was undertaken which concluded that the complaints were malicious.

In court the husband, who asked not be named, said: 'It was extremely traumatic for us because we knew the impact of such an investigation. 

'The children were extremely distressed, especially our son who is autistic and he has got ADHD and we were worried because of these false allegations made by our neighbour our children would be actually taken into care.

'We were also told that during the investigation that the social worker was going to contact every other institution that had any involvement with our children including all of the schools that children attended and also the doctors, anyone who had any involvement with the children.

'The whole experience was very frightening and also very humiliating. My children were reluctant to play outside knowing that they could be watched.'

Dean was eventually hauled into court after the couple compiled a huge dossier of evidence against him including extensive CCTV clips relating to allegations of 'aggressive' parking and littering plus copies of malicious Facebook posts.

At Liverpool Magistrates' Court the 59-year-old was found guilty of harassment and bailed for sentence pending the preparation of reports. 

He will now be evicted from his housing association property.

The court heard the Polish couple had lived in their family home for nine years without issue but problems began after Dean moved in next door in August 2024.

The husband told the court that 'every day and night we heard howling and barking' when, after a week, he decided to speak with Dean. 

He said the family were having trouble sleeping and that because his children were homeschooled and could not complete their work as they were 'tired' and 'distracted' by the noise. 

He also told the nightmare neighbour that he was also in the middle of his studies and unable to revise. 

Dean told the father his Weimaraner was still a puppy, that he intended to train him and he would 'see what he could do' about the noise - but instead it 'deteriorated'. 

The father told magistrates: 'We could see the dog was on a very short leash attached to the fencing. 

'The leash was so short that the dog practically had no opportunity to move around and could barely lie down. 

'It did not have a bowl of water or food and did not have any shelter from the shade of the rain.

'I went to see him again and suggested that if the dog be brought inside it would not need attention by howling and barking but Mr Dean reacted with anger, stated that the dog and the garden is his property and has nothing to do with me and he can do what he wants.

'I said if he was not going to listen to my polite and kind request that I would have no choice but to report this matter to the appropriate services.'

When Dean failed to heed the warning the couple complained to the RSPCA and the housing association which subsequently sent him a letter warning him about excess noise. 

The husband added that he noticed ripped up pieces of letters outside his house. He checked the footage from his CCTV camera and saw Dean ripping the documents to pieces and and throwing them outside his house.   

He said he believes this happened after he reported Dean to the RSPCA. 

The father told the court: 'We later had a visit from the police saying we were allegedly abusing our children. We were in shock. 

'The police spoke to our children, apologised and left the house and at that time we were not required to provide any statements.

'Then I found out that the dog was missing and I heard Mr Dean accused my wife of having something to do with it. 

'Shortly afterwards I received a phone call from a social worker with regards to leaving my children unattended at home for the whole day.

'I did explain that the children sometimes are left at home but no longer than an hour or a couple of hours. 

'They are instructed how to behave, what to do and not to do and not to open the door to anyone. 

'During this time we are in constant contact with them and also have internal monitoring. 

'My children know that they can contact their aunt who lives very close to our house and social services were happy with our explanation and they did not see any problems with that. 

'But when the neighbour noticed there was no intervention, he started making reports that the children were abused and hurt. There were two further police visits two weeks apart. 

'There was an allegation that my wife was pulling my daughter's hair in the garden, she was kind of dragging her in the garden by her hair. Shortly after the visit from the police I had a visit from the social worker.

'It was the most traumatic visit we had regarding our children and we were told that they would have to do a thorough investigation which would involve a conversation with us and an interview with the children separately. 

'The children would be interviewed separately and also our house had to be checked over including the children's bedrooms.' 

The husband explained that he and his wife were told to agree to the visit - otherwise the social worker would have to return with the police. 

He said Dean's report to social services alleged he had a recording of the incident - but CCTV at the back of the family's own home showed 'no such incident took place'. 

'The conclusion was that it was a malicious report and the only concern that social services had was what impact these constant false reports would have on our children,' he said. 

'Every time somebody knocks on our door the children are shouting "is that the police again?"

'We do not have any privacy in our house and we cannot use our back garden comfortably. The children are not willing to play there happily by themselves and my daughter is scared to go outside of the house by herself.

'Because of the behaviour of my neighbour, the stress and the sleepless nights caused by this behaviour had a big impact on my studies at university.

'I was unable to take my exams in August 2024 and I have had a lot of problems to be able to progress to the next year. 

'Those accusations were seen by thousands of people and were extremely humiliating for us. We felt defamed.'

In one Facebook post, Dean said: 'I have reported them to NSPCC about abuse a few times. The kids are left alone to fend for themselves. 

'They played a game with matches trying to set each other's clothes on fire. One could have been seriously hurt or killed due to the neglect of parents constantly being leaving them to fend for themselves. 

'None go to school. The whole family does not rise until after midday.' 

He told the court: 'I owned the dog for a week and I had four letters through the door. I thought it was over the top. 

'He never knocked at the door and did not try to be civil about it. I was the one being civil. The RSPCA came out twice to see me and twice they said they had no problem. 

'When the dog went missing, I said it had been taken. I did not accuse anyone of anything.

'The next day I could see the kids playing out in the back garden and spent the whole day alone and I saw the boy striking matches and throwing them at the girl (and) called the police then.

'This was nothing to do with the dog, it was nothing to do with them, or getting my own back. It was more to do with if that kid who had got on fire could have got seriously injured or worse.  

'It would have been on my conscience because I never did anything about it but chose to ignore it. 

'I witnessed the female screaming and dragging the female child by her hair into the house. I do not understand Polish but I know aggression when I see it. 

'It is the same in any language. My reports were for the safety of the children. I am not being childish.'

But in convicting Dean, District Judge Timothy Boswell said: 'I am sure these were malicious complaints. There were no genuine concerns on Mr Dean's part. '